Australia's official corruption challenges - Griffith University
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Australia’s National Integrity System Priorities for Reform
Draft Report – April 2019
4. Australia’s official corruption challenges
4.1. The issues
Even if Australia still ranks relatively high on international governance indices, reduced trust
and elevated scandals in Australian government in recent years have focused attention on the
scale of our official corruption problems – and the issue of how corruption itself is understood,
measured and defined. Achieving a clearer picture of the nature of these challenges, and the
adequacy of operating definitions of corruption, legal categories and agency responsibilities,
is pivotal to identifying whether and how integrity systems may need to be strengthened.
For Australia there are four main issues:
• The changing profile of the types of misconduct and integrity violations classified by the
community as ‘corruption’ – especially increasing concern about ‘grey corruption’ and
‘undue influence’;
• The extent of corruption risks going under-addressed, or unaddressed, in particular
government and industry sectors – especially at Commonwealth level;
• Wildly varying legal definitions of official corruption across Australia, creating problems
of inconsistency, confusion and uncertainty about the right systems and processes for
responding to corruption; and
• As a consequence, disjunctions between the amount of official misconduct that is known
or perceived to occur, and amount and effectiveness of official action to deal with and
prevent that misconduct – given that only some of these definitions cover, or propose to
cover, the spectrum of corruption risks relevant to modern-day Australia.
These definitions are central not only to whether justice is achieved, accountability is upheld
and trust is maintained. They also define what preventive strategies are triggered, to reduce
reliance on a retrospective ‘damage control’ model of integrity; whether corrupt and high-risk
misconduct is properly identified, measured and monitored; and whether it is detected and
stopped before taking hold, through comprehensive reporting frameworks.
These issues have special significance for design of the proposed Commonwealth / National
Integrity Commission. They determine whether its scope and mandate will be narrow,
criminal, fragmented and confusing, as proposed – or broader and systemic to meet these
challenges. However, these are also issues for State governments, given the variations in
legal definitions of corruption already confusing the Australian public sector landscape.
Arriving at a more unified understanding of our corruption challenges is the second
fundamental step in identifying reform priorities.2
4.2. The state of the debate
Types of official corruption in Australia
Corruption, defined by Transparency International as ‘the abuse of entrusted power for private
gain’, takes a wide variety of forms – including ‘grand’, ‘petty’ and ‘political’ corruption.1
Australian experience confirms that serious threats also lie in conduct which crosses these
categories; and, especially, conduct which is widely seen as corrupt but treated as minor by
law, and/or where rules and laws are considered ambiguous: ‘grey corruption’.2
Grand corruption
As outlined in chapter 3, Australia is at extremely low risk of converting to kleptocracy or total
systemic capture of public decision-making by non-public interests, as is the norm in some
countries. However, the potential is demonstrated by a history of exposure to near-grand
corruption at State level, for example in pre-Fitzgerald Queensland or under ‘WA Inc’.
At a federal level, the relative speed of adoption of a foreign interference regime in 2018,
including the banning of foreign political donations following the resignation of Senator Sam
Dastyari3, reflects a recognition that acceptance of grand corruption in other jurisdictions can
lead rapidly to capture of policymakers in ways that may seem individual and minor, but could
rapidly become systemic, and lead to similar practices.
‘Petty’ corruption
Individual acts of official bribery, kickbacks, embezzlement of public funds or self-enrichment
by public officials are also not the norm in Australia. TI’s Global Corruption Barometer
confirms that on average, less than two per cent of adult citizens have had to give a bribe, gift
or favour to obtain a public service or decision to which they are entitled. Nevertheless,
individual level corruption is real, ever-present and carries serious risks:
• Bribery, kickbacks and self-enrichment offences are routinely encountered and dealt
with by all of Australia’s State anti-corruption agencies;4
1https://www.transparency.org/cpi2010/in_detail. For analysis teasing out distinctions between
corruption as a political system or democratisation problem, and those who see it as a structural,
principal-agent problem, see Heywood (2017, pp. 22-25).
2 Prenzler, T., Horne, B., and McKean, A. (2018), ‘Identifying and preventing gray corruption in
Australian politics’, in M. Edelbacher & P. C. Kratcoski (Eds.), The Prevention of fraud and corruption:
Major types, prevention and control (pp. 61-81), New York: Springer. For an outline of the
classification approach being applied in this section, examining ‘types, activities, sectors and places’
(TASP), see Graycar, A, & Sidebottom, A. (2012), ‘Corruption and control: a corruption reduction
approach’, Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp.384-399.
3https://theconversation.com/the-foreign-donations-bill-will-soon-be-law-what-will-it-do-and-why-is-it-
needed-107095. Senator Dastyari was previously a leading champion of foreign bribery law reform.
4Australia Institute, http://www.tai.org.au/sites/default/files/National%20Integrity%20Commission%20-
%20Design%20Blueprint%20Part%201%20-%20Jurisdiction.pdf3
• Individual-level corruption has recently been found not only among junior and frontline
officials, but senior elected officials at local and State level, convicted and imprisoned
for serious corruption offences – for example, in New South Wales through the work of
the Independent Commission Against Corruption,5 and in Queensland through the work
of the Crime and Corruption Commission;6
• These risks also present in Commonwealth administration, as discussed below;
• Abuse of travel and other ‘entitlements’ by politicians, most visibly at the Commonwealth
Government level, has been a serious recurring problem; including use of travel for
family holidays, normal commuting to work, attendance at party-political events, and
engaging in business activities such as purchasing investment properties;7
• These kinds of abuse of position are also associated with a range of others with highly
‘corruptive’ effects on decision-making and public confidence, including:
⎯ Gifts and benefits to politicians and public servants (often seen as thinly veiled
bribery, especially in procurement), including theatre and concert tickets, tickets to
sporting events, and free travel and holidays;
⎯ Excessive expenditures in areas such as consultancies, ‘vanity’ public work
programs, mismanaged infrastructure projects, office refurbishments, luxury travel,
chartered use of military aircraft instead of commercial flights, overly generous
pensions and ‘life gold’ travel passes for retired politicians; and
⎯ ‘Cronyism and ‘nepotism’ associated with employment positions being assigned
without open advertising and competitive selection, including electoral office
positions, ministerial media positions, diplomatic and trade posts (including as
perceived rewards for political loyalty or for vacating office) – and including judicial
and tribunal appointments, with the further ‘corruptive’ effect of politicising these
independent bodies, undermining their purpose and effectiveness.8
Political corruption
Further, like all democracies, Australia is directly exposed to political corruption risks, in
which entrusted power may be corrupted for illegitimate gains, in the form of party-political,
organisational or ideological gain, or favouritism of a particular industry or social group. As
5 See e.g. https://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/investigations.
6 See e.g. http://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/corruption/past-investigations.
7 See https://www.crikey.com.au/2013/12/10/flying-high-labor-ministers-racked-up-millions-in-vip-
travel/; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-03/matthewson-entitlements-war-not-over/6666884;
ANAO (2015a), Administration of travel entitlements provided to parliamentarians: Department of
Finance, Canberra, Australian National Audit Office; Conde, J., Tune, D., Jenkins, H., Nelson, B., and
Bardo Nicholls, L. (2016), An Independent parliamentary entitlements system: Review, Canberra,
Commonwealth of Australia.
8https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/21/full-of-liberal-mates-labor-accuses-
coalition-of-stacking-tribunal.4
seen above, many forms of ‘petty’ corruption can cross over into, or accompany, the more
serious and damaging problem of political corruption.
However, political corruption can also involve integrity violations which, in any other context,
would not necessarily be regarded as improper or unlawful, and may even be applauded. The
main categories are:
• Political donations and campaign resources – where private support for the political
process can be positive, but in reality, accusations and suspicions of undue influence
abound due to liberal political donations laws that lack adequate bans or limits on high-
risk donors, are easily circumvented or not enforced, and lack real-time disclosures;9
• Undue influence associated with lobbyists’ access to politicians, by ‘purchasing access’
at expensive party funding raising events, and through a ‘revolving door’ of politicians
and their senior staff joining lobbying firms and exploiting political contacts, or vice versa;
• Abuse of political control over spending, to either influence political outcomes or repay
political debts, including use of ‘government’ advertising and ‘electorate’ communication
expenses as de facto party-political advertising, especially when ramped up prior to the
official election period; and ‘pork barrelling’ involving excessive and unjustified promises
at election times without proper scrutiny of policy merits.10
Political corruption risks facing Australia, especially at the Commonwealth level, have been
widely documented11 and are further discussed in Chapter 6.
Grey corruption
The above types of alleged misconduct, on top of historical and international issues listed in
chapters 1 and 3, have contributed to a rolling crisis of confidence across all levels of
government in recent years. Deterioration in Australia’s integrity ratings and public confidence
in government are associated not only with these recurring scandals in state and local
jurisdictions, and their escalation at the federal level since 2013, but with perceptions –
especially at the national level – that institutions and accountability are not keeping up.12
9See Coghill, K. (2016, March 30), ‘Federal donation rules dangerously weak’, Australian Financial
Review, p. 35.
10 https://www.crikey.com.au/2014/05/21/porkies-the-biggest-broken-promises-in-australian-politics/;
ANAO (2015b), The Award of funding under the Safer Streets Program, Canberra, Australian National
Audit Office; http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/15-public-sector-executives-take-home-
over-1m/news-story/5e67f5ca424f8cd41f957e95f6359985;
http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/the-10-most-outrageous-things-pollies-have-spent-our-
money-on/news-story/254c2cb0858b56fb89ed65f547bee3f0; http://www.news.com.au/national/for-a-
ping-pong-table-just-the-tip-of-the-local-council-spending-iceberg/news-
story/1eb40349ae59cdd788ec86a84608e5ab; https://www.theguardian.com/australia-
news/2015/sep/04/tony-abbotts-first-two-years-despite-the-daily-battles-hes-losing-the-war; Uren, D.
(2016, June 25), ‘Coalition wins hands down on pork-barrelling’, The Australian, p. 6.
11 See e.g. Wood, D., Griffiths, K., and Chivers, C. (2018), Who’s in the room? Access and influence
in Australian politics, Melbourne, Grattan Institute.
12 Transparency International, http://transparency.org.au/corruption-perceptions-index-cpi-2017-5 As can be seen, much uncertainty stems from the fact that while some forms of corruption are both wrong and clearly illegal (e.g. bribery), their true prevalence and scale can be difficult to establish. However, many of these types of conduct are not clearly illegal, and often not even hidden, because they involve conduct which ‘normally’ is either lawful or only represents a minor infraction at law, or about which laws and rules are ambiguous (‘grey corruption’). Much of the ‘influence trading’ in political corruption involves no current breach of law, and may seem built into the political process. Corruptive conduct by individuals or industries aimed at securing undue influence over decision-making, or officials inviting or acting on that influence, is defended on the basis that it is not only lawful, but pursued purely (or mostly) for public benefits and not any individual, commercial or political gain. Even nepotism and cronyism in appointments are defended on the basis that open selection and merit procedures were simply unnecessary, as the result was still the ‘best person for the job’, and the decision- maker did not individually ‘benefit’ as a result of this minor deviation from procedure.13 Recognising this wider spectrum of corruption is vital, because it identifies both where the highest risks of more ‘serious’ corruption may lie, and also where many of the real, most serious and damaging forms of corruption as perceived by the community, already lie. In international rankings, the 2017 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index (see in chapter 3), Australia ranked 16th out of 137 countries for overall ‘ethics and corruption’ (a score of 5.5/7). However, within this score, while Australia ranked relatively well for ‘irregular payments and bribes’ (12th/137, 6.2/7), it ranked less well for ‘diversion of public funds’ (14th/137, 5.7/7), ‘favouritism in decisions of government officials’ (21st/137, 4.5/7), and ‘public trust in politicians’ (22nd/137, 4.6/7).14 Within Australia, the true range of problems as defined by the community, is directly revealed by the 2018 Global Corruption Barometer (Appendix 2). For the first time worldwide, our assessment asked Australian citizens to nominate the types of conduct that concerned them, when they identified official corruption as being any level of problem in Australia. Figure 4.1 sets out the results. Of the 1,932 respondents (86 per cent) who said that official corruption was a very big, quite big, or quite small problem in Australia, the vast majority (92 per cent) were able to give examples – with a very large majority (at least 83 per cent) nominating types of conduct matching the broad definition of corruption at the start of this chapter. Significantly, very few (4 per cent) mentioned only issues that appeared to relate to policy or political disaffection with government, as opposed to some concept of corruption. In addition, of those who did nominate corruption issues, very few (2.5 per cent) mentioned issues that related shows-australia-falls-corruption-perceptions-index-scores/; Prenzler, T., Horne, B., and McKean, A. (2018), ‘Identifying and preventing gray corruption in Australian politics’ in M. Edelbacher & P. C. Kratcoski (Eds.), The Prevention of fraud and corruption: Major types, prevention and control (pp. 61- 81), New York: Springer. 13This issue was at the heart of the ICAC investigation in 1992, which led to the resignation of NSW Premier Nick Greiner. See Prenzler, T. (2013) Ethics and Accountability in Criminal Justice, Australian Academic Press, Brisbane, p. 23. 14http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-index-2017-2018/competitiveness- rankings/#series=GCI.A.01.01.02
6
mostly to non-government corruption, such as banking misconduct or institutional responses
to child sexual abuse.
The result was strong evidence that Australians see corruption in government as falling into
three main groups of problems, consistent with the spectrum described above. General
accountability failures associated with political dishonesty, deceit or non-disclosure by
government were identified by 17 per cent of respondents. Self-enrichment by politicians and
officials (and their family and friends), ranging from embezzlement to abuse of expenses to
nepotism and cronyism, was identified by 40 per cent of respondents.
However, the largest group of concerns (42 per cent of respondents) were those associated
with undue influence, access and perversion of decision-making by particular interests.
Whether this occurred through ‘hard’ corruption in the form of direct bribery (i.e. purchased
decisions), or ‘soft’ or ‘grey’ corruption in the other forms described above, was less significant
than the underlying purpose and effect of the actions or behaviour identified (undue influence).
Figure 4.1. Types of corruption perceived by Australian citizens
B4. ‘What kind of corruption do you think is the main problem in government – please tell me
the kind of actions or behaviour you have in mind?’ (n=1,932)
45
40
35
30
25
20 42.4
40.0
15
10
16.8
5 8.7
2.5 3.7 3.9
0
Undue Self-interest Political Corruption General Other (only) Don't know
influence of by officials deceit, beyond govt disaffection (16.3% inc
government (expenses, dishonesty, (money with govt other types)
(bribery, fraud, lack of laundering, (only) (10.6%
donations, nepotism, transparency banking, inc other
lobbying, cronyism) or child sexual types)
business) accountability abuse)
Source: Griffith University & TI Australia, Global Corruption Barometer Australia, May-June 2018 (n=2,218).
Note: Columns add to more than 100 per cent, as respondents could nominate more than one kind.7
As shown in Figure 4.2, a similar pattern was revealed when all respondents were asked if
they had specifically witnessed or suspected evidence of corruption, even if they had not
themselves had to pay a bribe. As already indicated, while few reported that they personally
had to pay a bribe (2 per cent), over half of respondents (53 per cent) said they had personally
witnessed or suspected this to be occurring. Concerns about self-enrichment and undue
influence were even higher. Indeed, respondents who had ever worked in the federal
government were more likely than other respondents to report having witnessed or suspected
an official or politician of making a decision in favour of someone who provided political
donations or support (68 per cent, against the national average of 56 per cent).15
Figure 4.2. Incidence of witnessed/suspected corruption (2018)
In the past 12 months, how many times have you personally witnessed, or suspected, a
government official or politician doing the following things? (n=2,218)
100%
90%
80% Don't know /
refused
70%
Never
60% 62.2
56.3
53.2 22.2 Once or twice
50%
45.6 18.9
21.0
40% A few times
18.4
30% 22.6
21.4
20.7 Many times
20% 17.2
10% 16.0 17.4
10.0 11.5
0%
having accepting a bribe, making a decision using their
unexplained gift or favour for a in favour of a position to benefit
income beyond particular service business or themselves or
their public salary or decision individual who their family
gave them
political donations
or support
The key lesson from the above findings is that a narrow or selective focus on corruption as
simply petty/criminal, or grand/criminal, is not going to reveal or explain what is really going
on, or where the main challenges lie.
15Those who had ever worked in federal government (n=245) had seen more instances of an official
or political making a decision in favour of someone who gave them a political donation or support (M =
2.34, SD = 1.15) compared to those who had not worked in federal government (M = 2.09, SD =
1.16), t = 3.19 (df = 2212), p = 0.14).8 High risk areas (activities and sectors) As identified in chapter 3, official corruption challenges are also not uniformly distributed across society, but vary across industry and public sectors. For example, dealings between government and the natural resources sector are well known internationally for their concentration of corruption risks, and this is confirmed by some of the above cases, and more generally, for Australia.16 At the hard end of criminal corruption, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has identified areas of the public sector – both federal and state – as most at risk of corruption by serious and organised crime: primarily ‘procurement across all levels of government’, ‘frontline agencies’, and ‘agencies without established anti-corruption practices’.17 Applying these criteria together, it becomes easier to see why most if not all States have been strengthening their integrity and anti-corruption systems over the past decade, as described in chapter 2 – as well as why the Commonwealth has come under such strong pressure to follow suit. The question is how well these reforms are aligned to addressing the actual types and risks of corruption described above. For example, in procurement of goods, equipment, facilities and services, the proposed inclusion of the entire Commonwealth public sector in the jurisdiction of an anti-corruption agency is clearly long overdue. While it is the fourth largest government in Australia in terms of employment (Figures 4.4 and 4.5 below), the Australian Government is the single largest public procurer, with Commonwealth contracts over $10,000 amounting to $251.9 billion in 2012-2017, disbursed through up to 70,000 procurement actions per year.18 In 2016-17 alone, Defence procurement amounted to $32.7 billion. The ANAO has commented on the failure of defence procurement procedures to mitigate corruption risks,19 which are plainly high, with Australia letting contracts to at least two suppliers subject to criticism in recent years: French submarine maker DCNS and German military vehicle supplier Rheinmetall.20 However, as Table 4.1 shows, Defence procurement has not been subject to any overall system of anti-corruption oversight within the Commonwealth. Moreover, nor is whole-of-government travel, the second largest area of procurement – despite being the subject of recent scandal, including the coincidences that one major travel 16 http://transparency.org.au/our-work/mining-for-sustainable-development/mining-in-australia/ 17Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (2017), Organised Crime in Australia 2017 18 See https://www.finance.gov.au/procurement/statistics-on-commonwealth-purchasing-contracts/. 19See https://www.anao.gov.au/work/information/australian-government-procurement-contract- reporting. 20 Both companies received a “D” categorisation in Transparency International’s most recent Defence Companies Anti-Corruption Index (2015), meaning that they exhibited limited evidence of ethics and anti-corruption programmes based on publicly available material; see http://companies.defenceindex.org/view-report-dataset/.
9
supplier was a large political donor to the Coalition party/government that let the contract, and
had then also chosen not to charge the relevant Finance Minister and his family for their
personal travel.21 The only one of these agencies whose procurement fell within the oversight
jurisdiction of the Commonwealth’s only specialist anti-corruption agency (ACLEI), in this
period, was Department of Home Affairs (formerly Immigration and Border Protection).
Table 4.1. Commonwealth procurement: top 10 agencies (2016-17)22
Red boxes indicate agency/area not subject to the jurisdiction of ACLEI or independent anti-
corruption agency to date.
Notes:
* Formation of new entities following Machinery of Government changes means they can’t be
compared to entities of previous financial years.
# Whole of Australian Government Air Travel Services, including entities’ estimate of air travel
spend across a five year period from 2016 to 2021.
Law enforcement is a specific sector of recognised risk, at both federal and state levels. The
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission identifies corruption as one of the six enablers of
serious and organised crime in Australia, even while assessing there to be, currently, ‘limited
evidence of serious and organised crime involvement in public sector corruption.’23
21Helloworld Ltd: see https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cormann-had-no-idea-a-travel-
company-had-given-him-a-free-trip-20190218-p50ym5.html.
22Source: https://www.finance.gov.au/procurement/statistics-on-commonwealth-purchasing-
contracts/.
23Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (2017), Organised Crime in Australia 201710
At state level, where police corruption has been a primary focus in the creation and
subsequent mandate of all anti-corruption agencies, the risk has continued to manifest in a
number of ways, including the detection and prosecution of a senior NSW (and former federal)
crime commissioner for drug importation in 2012.24
While the Australian judiciary continues to be free of evidence of any significant level of
corruption, the legal system in general is open to corruption risks, especially in State criminal
law enforcement areas. This is highlighted by the current Victorian Royal Commission into
the Management of Police Informants, including examination of allegations that a high-profile
defence lawyer in the area of organised crime simultaneously served as a long-term police
source and informed on her clients.25
At a federal level, the importance of addressing law enforcement integrity risks was central to
the creation of ACLEI in 2006, oversighting the Australian Federal Police and Australian Crime
Commission – and the subsequent expansion of its jurisdiction to include AUSTRAC,
Australian Customs and Immigration enforcement areas (now the Australian Border Force and
Department of Home Affairs, as mentioned above), and enforcement officers in the
Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (including the former
Quarantine service).
As discussed in chapter 2, these progressive expansions have come as a result of
recommendations from ACLEI’s parliamentary oversight committee, and, in each case, the
extension has confirmed the reality of corruption, uncovering more of it in each additional
agency. However, there has been recent evidence of both continuing risks and continuing
inadequacy of this incremental response.26
This forms the background to all political parties’ commitment to reform at the federal level,
including the current Government’s proposal to establish a Commonwealth Integrity
Commission under which another four regulatory agencies would be added to ACLEI’s current
jurisdiction, as also recommended by the parliamentary committee for many years:
• Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), and
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).27
24See https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/top-cop-mark-william-standen-walked-a-very-crooked-
path/news-story/19581864ad3e5d61702fc3fa76f9d2b0?sv=5293e79c675894c72e37f0d2290b2490.
25 https://www.rcmpi.vic.gov.au/home
26 See e.g. Richard Baker, Lucy Cormack and Nick McKenzie,
https://www.smh.com.au/national/outgunned-federal-corruption-agencies-not-up-to-the-task-
20181125-p50i6i.html (26 November 2018).
27 Australian
Government (2018). A Commonwealth Integrity Commission—proposed reforms,
Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra, 13 December 2018 <
https://www.ag.gov.au/Consultations/Pages/commonwealth-integrity-commission.aspx>11
At all levels of government, all types of corruption risk are known to be higher among frontline
and outlying agencies, especially those lying beyond the ‘core’ public service.
This is confirmed by experiences in the Australian states, where all agencies are covered by
anti-corruption agency oversight, but where the bulk of corruption investigations over the past
decade have ended up focused not only on high-risk core public sector agencies, but on the
statutory authorities and controlled entities of the ‘outer’ public sector, as shown in Figure 4.3.
A review of 135 publicly reported investigations from State anti-corruption agencies over the
period 2007 to 2017 showed that over half of reported corruption investigations focused on
statutory authorities and independent entities, especially in the major jurisdictions (NSW,
Queensland and to a lesser extent WA).28
Figure 4.3. Focus of State anti-corruption agency reports by sector (2007-17)
Other
5% Core Public
Police
11% Sector
13%
MPs
7%
Local
Government
8%
Outer Public
Sector
56%
Source: Ken Coghill & Marco Bini (2018), ‘Jurisdictional Variation in Anti-
Corruption Investigations in Australia’ (forthcoming), Figure 2.
Local government, a sector which is frontline and dispersed, and involves a high degree of
discretionary decision-making power, is also generally recognised as high risk – as borne out
by investigations in all States.29
This distribution of risk is also evident at the federal level – also contributing to the major
current momentum for enlargement of anti-corruption agency jurisdiction beyond law
28See Ken Coghill & Marco Bini (2018), ‘Jurisdictional Variation in Anti-Corruption Investigations in
Australia’ (forthcoming), reviewing 135 investigation reports in the period 2007-2017: NSW ICAC (68),
Qld CMC (15), WA CCC (36), Tas IC (3), SA ICAC (1), Vic IBAC (12). Excludes annual reports and
educational reports. Of the examined reports in NSW, 85% involved the outer public sector. Victoria
had a 50/50 split between departments and the outer public sector.
29 See, for example, Operation Belcarra in Queensland at
http://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/corruption/operation-belcarra; and Operation Atlas in New South Wales at
https://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/investigations/past-investigations/investigationdetail/65.12 enforcement (see above). In addition to corruption in law enforcement areas such as Border Protection, some of the worst corruption involving any Australian government entities (bribery of foreign officials) has been conducted by outlying Commonwealth-licensed and owned, or formerly owned, companies: the Australian Wheat Board30 and Reserve Bank of Australia’s banknote printing enterprises.31 Such events have contributed to a general realisation of the weak and fragmented approach to dealing with all types of corruption risk across the federal public sector. Despite repeated official claims to the contrary over many years, including recently,32 there is little question that corruption risks extend across this sector no less than others, in addition to being highly concentrated in some areas as noted.33 The special exposure of the parliamentary or political sector, highlighted above, is also a core issue in the proposed Commonwealth reforms – discussed further in chapter 6. However, how different corruption risks are assessed and recognised in different sectors, across government, leads directly to questions about the nature of formal systems for doing so. The key question is: to what extent are legal institutions and frameworks configured to ensure the full spectrum of risks is capable of being recognised, identified and acted on? The salience of this issue is demonstrated further in Figures 4.4 and 4.5, showing the very different distribution of risk, in terms of sophistication of anti-corruption oversight and control, across the federal public sector and all States. As shown, the Commonwealth employs approximately 240,000 of the nation’s 1.9 million public officials and employees. However, in almost all States, corruption risk is met by making all public employees subject to the jurisdiction of a central anti-corruption agency with scope and mandate capable of spanning the full range of corruption types – including criminal and non-criminal, and both hard and ‘softer’ (grey corruption) matters. 30Commissioner Terence Cole, Report of the Inquiry into certain Australian companies in relation to the UN Oil-for-Food Programme, 24 November 2006, Attorney-General's Department (Australia). 31 See https://www.cdpp.gov.au/news/former-rba-and-securency-employee-sentenced. 32 Senate Select Committee on a National Integrity Commission, Answers to Questions on Notice, APSC (5 July 2017), p3. https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=d8e5d17b-6dd2-4086- a2e0-7dff86d527e4; Senate Select Committee Public Hearing, John Lloyd (5 July, 2017) p 14: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/commsen/4486468b-1349-4a12-b7d5- 00da3a85b172/toc_pdf/Select%20Committee%20on%20a%20National%20Integrity%20Commission_ 2017_07_05_5243_Official.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/commsen/4486 468b-1349-4a12-b7d5-00da3a85b172/0000%22 (accessed 10/7/2018). 33 In 2017, 5% of 98,943 Australian Public Service employees said they had witnessed another employee engaging in corrupt behaviour (of whom 64% reported cronyism; 26% nepotism in the workplace; and 21% official decisions that improperly favoured a person or company): https://stateoftheservice.apsc.gov.au/2018/01/aps-values-code-conduct-2/. This was despite the APS Employee Census survey defining a high threshold for corruption: ‘The dishonest or biased exercise of a Commonwealth public official's functions. A distinguishing characteristic of corrupt behaviour is that it involves conduct that would usually justify serious penalties, such as termination of employment or criminal prosecution’.
13 In the Commonwealth, however, only approximately 22,537 or nine per cent of all employees are partly covered by an equivalent regime, in the five agencies oversighted by ACLEI. Instead, another 136,000 or 57 per cent are employed in Australian Public Service (APS) agencies which remain subject only to the central Code of Conduct regime under the Public Service Act 1999. 34 The remaining 81,000 or 34 per cent are located in separate, outlying parts of the sector, subject to separate disciplinary and integrity regimes with no central, coordinated anti-corruption oversight or support at all.35 In all cases, agencies and employees are also subject to criminal law and the jurisdiction of police (for the Commonwealth, since 2014, through the Australian Federal Police Fraud & Anti-Corruption Centre). However, this is only for criminal offences and clearly does not deal with the full spectrum of risks discussed above, nor involve central reporting or oversight mechanisms for identifying risks. This state of affairs helps further explain the shift to reform at the federal level. However, not all the proposed reforms would address this situation. Figure 4.5 shows how the public sectors would compare, under the current Commonwealth government proposals. As noted in chapter 2, as well as adding the above four additional APS and non-APS agencies to the ACLEI jurisdiction, all other Commonwealth agencies would become subject to oversight by the ‘public sector division’ of the Government’s proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission – but only in respect of revised criminal offences. This criminal corruption jurisdiction would therefore replicate the existing criminal law jurisdiction of the Australian Federal Police. However, as Figure 4.5 shows, this would represent only a marginal difference, since it would not address the spectrum of corruption types described above, especially those relating to grey corruption. 34 Total 152,095 (63 per cent) of all Commonwealth employment: see http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6248.0.55.002Main+Features12016- 17?OpenDocument (accessed 5/7/2018); APSC, Annual Report 2016-2017, p 5 https://www.apsc.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4441/f/2016-17_sosr.pdf (accessed 5/7/2018). 35In total 87,705 employees (37 per cent of the sector) are in these entities. The largest is the Australian Defence Force (58,612 employees), subject to its own Defence Force Discipline Act 1982, and its own statutory Inspector-General, providing a military justice, grievance and redress system rather than anti-corruption oversight: see http://www.defence.gov.au/mjs/organisations.asp#1. Also in the non-APS group are Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), subject to oversight by the Inspector-General of Intelligence & Security, but this is again primarily a complaints body (to ensure these agencies ‘act legally and with propriety, comply with ministerial guidelines and directives and respect human rights’) rather than an anti-corruption body. NB the 1,154 employees of the Parliamentary Departments are non-APS but have the same conduct regime and Commissioners as for the APS, and so are less separate.
14
Figure 4.4. Anti-corruption coverage: public sector employees (Australia) 2017
550,000 # not covered by central Code of Conduct or anti-
- corruption agency regime
500,000
# covered by central Code of Conduct (APS) but
not anti-corruption agency regime
450,000
# covered by anti-corruption agency regime
400,000 - (criminal only) (central government)
- # covered by anti-corruption agency regime
350,000 (criminal & non-criminal) (central government)
# covered by anti-corruption agency regime
300,000 (criminal & non-criminal) (local government)
469,100
250,000
358,300
200,000 322,300 81,165 -
150,000
-
100,000 171,900
136,098
115,800
50,000 -
55,900 50,900 41,800 39,028
22,537 22,700 11,300 3,972
-
NSW Victorian Queensland Commonwealth WA SA Tasmanian
Government Government Government Government Government Government Government
(525,000) (409,200) (364,100) (239,800) (194,600) (127,100) (43,000)
Figure 4.5. Proposed coverage (Commonwealth Integrity Commission proposal)
550,000 # not covered by central Code of Conduct but covered
- by anti-corruption agency regime (criminal only)
500,000
# covered by central Code of Conduct (APS) and
450,000 anti-corruption agency regime (criminal only)
# covered by anti-corruption agency regime
400,000 - (criminal only) (central government)
- # covered by anti-corruption agency regime
350,000 (criminal & non-criminal) (central government)
300,000 # covered by anti-corruption agency regime
469,100 (criminal & non-criminal) (local government)
250,000
358,300
200,000 322,300 80,565 -
150,000
-
100,000 108,602 171,900
115,800
50,000 -
55,900 50,900 41,800 50,633 39,028
22,700 11,300 3,972
-
NSW Victorian Queensland Commonwealth WA SA Tasmanian
Government Government Government Government Government Government Government
(525,000) (409,200) (364,100) (239,800) (194,600) (127,100) (43,000)
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Series 6248.0.55.002 - Employment and Earnings, Public
Sector, Australia, 2016-17; APS Statistical Bulletin 2017; A Commonwealth Integrity Commission—
proposed reforms, Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra, 13 December 2018.15
Confused legal definitions of corruption
The major challenge becomes how well-placed Australia’s integrity systems are to recognise
and respond to these corruption risks, in terms of legal definitions. Other questions about
integrity institutions, such as their functions, powers and resources, are the focus of later
chapters. Here, there are two key questions. How well do current statutory approaches to
how corruption is defined and identified align with the above issues and risks? And, how well
do current reform proposals align?
Legal definitions of official corruption vary widely Australia, with most current and proposed
approaches not well matched to these risks and challenges. While variety is not unusual in a
federal system, for Australia it now means inconsistency, confusion and uncertainty have
become serious impediments to effective response, and threaten to become worse.
There are currently two main approaches: narrow and broad. For both, however, a major
problem is the extent to which most definitions hinge either on the type or seriousness of the
response to particular behaviour (e.g. whether a particular act is a crime), or on growing lists
of such types of behaviour (including crimes), with only secondary or unclear reference to why
this conduct is deemed corrupt.
• Under narrow definitions, the only conduct captured is particular, existing crimes.
Indeed, broader definitions evolved from the late 1980s in direct response to the inability
of the normal criminal justice system to deal adequately with corruption in this way, as
traditional offences requiring proof beyond reasonable doubt in a criminal court.
More recently, revival in use of the common law offence of ‘misconduct in public office’36
– and its codification, albeit in sometimes quite inconsistent ways, in some jurisdictions –
has restored some flexibility to the criminal prosecution of corruption, and breadth to these
definitions.37 Nevertheless, for practical purposes, agency jurisdictions are confined to
what might be able to be proved in a criminal court. In a turning back of the clock, Victoria
(2011) and South Australia (2012), two of the more recent states to create anti-corruption
agencies, confined themselves to this remit, with the role of the SA ICAC modelled on a
closed-door, federal law enforcement agency.38
36See David Lusty, ‘Revival of the common law offence of misconduct in public office’, (2014) 38 Crim
LJ 337.
37 See Tasmanian Integrity Commission (2014), Prosecuting Serious Misconduct in Tasmania: The
Missing Link: Interjurisdictional review of the offence of ‘misconduct in public office’, October 2014
https://www.integrity.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/296734/IC_-
_Interjurisdictional_review_of_the_offence_of_misconduct_in_public_office.PDF.
38 See Figure 4.4 and 4.5 above. The practical jurisdiction of the SA ICAC is somewhat broader,
because the agency was also given power to investigate ‘maladministration’ (albeit, confusingly, with
an overlapping mandate, different powers and different definition to that of the State Ombudsman);
and because an Office of Public Integrity was also created, overseen by the ICAC, to which any form
of misconduct must be reported for triaging to different agencies as necessary. See Independent
Commissioner Against Corruption Act 2012 (SA).16
• Broad definitions define corruption as either a criminal or a serious disciplinary breach
capable of justifying termination of employment, which satisfies a number of criteria
consistent with a broader concept of corruption. The substantive criteria usually follow the
form of the NSW ICAC Act 1988 and can involve any of:39
• conduct of an official that involves the dishonest or partial exercise of official functions
• conduct of an official that involves a breach of public trust
• conduct of an official that involves the misuse of official information or material
• conduct of any person that adversely affects, or could adversely affect the honest or
impartial exercise of official functions by a public official or authority.
NSW also includes a long list of criminal offences that can constitute corrupt conduct by
any person, if it ‘adversely affects’ or could adversely affect ‘the exercise of official functions
by any public official’ – a section that famously saw the NSW and High Courts decide that
this did not mean any exercise of official functions, such as affecting the ‘efficacy’ of public
administration, but only the honest and impartial exercise or ‘probity’ of official functions.40
This narrowing led to addition of a further category:
• conduct of any person that impairs, or could impair, public confidence in public
administration and could involve any of a further list of (mostly) criminal conduct,
including collusive tendering, fraudulent applications for licences, and other dishonest
use of public funds, assets, revenue or employment.
However, no States or territory follows this broad approach the same way. Queensland
has long been similar to NSW, but used the term ‘official misconduct’ from 1991 until 2014,
when it was narrowed to ‘corrupt conduct’ along with requirements that this must also
always be intended for someone’s personal benefit, akin to a criminal standard. These
were much criticised, and removed in 2018.41 The result is now a similar, though simpler
version than NSW, which does not focus so heavily on criminal offences.
Some variations are narrower, such as the WA Corruption and Crime Commission’s
jurisdiction over ‘serious misconduct’ (defined somewhat circularly as either a criminal
offence or when an officer acts ‘corruptly’), with all other ‘misconduct’ (much of which would
be ‘corrupt’ in NSW or Queensland) referred to the Public Sector Commission.42 However,
39 Section 8(1), Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 (NSW).
40Section 8(2): see ICAC v Cunneen [2015] HCA 14, leading to amendments based on the
recommendations of Murray Gleeson AC QC & Bruce McClintock SC, Independent Panel – Review of
the Jurisdiction of the Independent Commission Against Corruption: Report (30 July 2015).
41 See Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission Act 2001, s.15 – most recently revised in
2018. For background, see A J Brown, https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/will-
queensland-corruption-reforms-pervert-the-course-of-history-20140506-zr5pv.html;
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/labors-first-test-putting-integrity-before-
politics-in-queensland-20150213-13e56w.html.
42 Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Act 2003 (WA), s.4, as amended in 2015.17
approaches can also be even broader – Tasmania’s Integrity Commission investigates any
‘misconduct’, as low as any breach of an applicable code of conduct.
At the Commonwealth level, National Integrity Commission Bills introduced but not passed by
the Parliament have all tended to propose a broad approach, based on NSW – including those
introduced by the Greens in 2017 and prior. After the NSW Cunneen decision, above, the
Australia Institute’s National Integrity Committee has advocated that the definition be even
broader still, and go well beyond corruption or wrongdoing to include any conduct of any
person ‘that has the potential to impair the efficacy’ of any exercise of an official function.43
The National Integrity Commission Bill 2018, introduced by Cathy McGowan MP, copied the
NSW ICAC definition but without going so far, extended corrupt conduct to mean any official
conduct that involved ‘dishonest or partial exercise’ of any functions, breach of trust, etc, if it
represented a breach of any applicable code of conduct, rather than if only a criminal or
sackable offence.44
These definitions are a cause for confusion. Even the broad definitions retain a focus on
criminal offences which limits their scope; while the inconsistencies mean a high risk that
conduct which would be reportable in one jurisdiction, is not reportable in another.
Proposals at the Commonwealth level demonstrate the confusion, and potential pitfalls, most
clearly of all. Since 2011, parliamentary committees have argued for a ‘more detailed and
comprehensive definition’ of corruption under Commonwealth legislation.45 At present,
however, rather than sorting this out, the proposed approach is a bifurcated one, in which the
Commonwealth would simultaneously take:
• A very broad approach to corruption among the nine federal agencies to be covered
by the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 (Cth) – which has long defined
‘corrupt conduct’ and ‘corruption issues’ as relating to any abuse of office by an official,46
going well beyond criminal offences and providing a very flexible jurisdiction; and
• A very narrow approach, in which for the remaining 81 per cent of the federal public
sector, including parliamentarians, corruption would be defined only in relation to a
revised list of criminal offences, with a very explicit intention to exclude everything other
than criminal matters from the Commonwealth Integrity Commission’s jurisdiction and
funnel all complaints through government departments.
43 See Australia Institute (2019), Feedback on the Consultation Paper – A Commonwealth Integrity
Commission – proposed reform, Appendix B, p.17
http://www.tai.org.au/sites/default/files/National%20Integrity%20Committee%20-
%20Feedback%20on%20the%20Consultation%20Paper.pdf. Emphasis added.
44
National Integrity Commission Bill 2018, House of Representatives, 26 November 2018:
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6217;
45Parliamentary Joint Committee on ACLEI (2011): see Senate Select Committee, 2.26. Abuse of
public office is also a broad offence, hinging on use of office to dishonestly obtain a benefit or cause a
detriment, under s.142.2 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
46 See ss.6-7 of the Act.18
While the Government claimed that this proposed threshold ‘avoids a broad and confusing
swathe of potentially minor irregularities or misconduct’,47 it is plainly unworkable, and has
been much criticised. Indeed, within the nine agencies covered by ACLEI, different officials
engaging in the exact same type of grey corruption (e.g. making decisions in the presence of
an undisclosed conflict of interest) might be subject to wildly different standards and
consequences depending on whether they were seen as exercising a law enforcement
function, or not – itself a very unclear line.
Table 4.1, from an Attorney-General’s Department discussion paper in 2012, confirms the
impracticality. It shows how even on the most narrow conception of corruption, the types of,
and responses to, misconduct work on a continuum which bleeds into one another, given the
spectrum of issues and remedies involved.48 Setting standards and processes which seek to
prevent high-risk, non-criminal misconduct from coming onto the ‘corruption’ radar is fraught
with danger.
Table 4.1. Maladministration, Impropriety and Corruption (AGD 2012)
Maladministration Improper behaviour Corruption
• Managing badly • Inappropriate personal • Misuse of entrusted power or
• Inefficiency behaviour (e.g. harassment) office for private gain
• Bad judgement and decisions • Misuse of government
• Incompetence systems
• Lack of due process • Misuse of government
resources (could also be
corruption)
Behaviour that may be administrative misconduct
Behaviour that may be criminal
Problems arising from misaligned definitions and processes
Recent high-profile controversies serve to further highlight the deficiencies in current legal
definitions of corruption and misconduct in public office – especially where a reversion to
reliance on the criminal process is concerned. Experience is pointing to a mismatch between
the problem of ‘grey corruption’ discussed above, and need for clearer rules and more efficient
and effective responses, and the way such cases are playing out:
47 Attorney-General’s Department, https://www.ag.gov.au/Consultations/Documents/commonwealth-
integrity-commission/cic-consultation-paper.pdf, p. 13.
48Attorney-General’s Department, Discussion Paper: Australia’s Approach to Anti-Corruption,
Prepared as part of development of the National Anti-Corruption Plan, March 2012, p.7.19
• Onus of proof ‒ Peter Slipper
In 2012, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives visited three wineries in
the Canberra region via taxi at a cost to taxpayers of $954. A Federal Police investigation
led to Slipper being convicted of an offence of ‘dishonestly caus(ing) a loss’ to the
Commonwealth, under section 135.1(5) of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995.
He successfully appealed to the ACT Supreme Court, with the Judge accepting the claim
that it could not be proven that the visits did not involve ‘parliamentary business’.49 The
decision was seen as a major setback to enhanced political accountability, and a case
of judicial reasoning at odds with common sense and public opinion.50
• Intent to privately gain ‒ Ian MacDonald and John Maitland
This case has foundered on uncertainty over the intent needed to prove improper
favourable treatment by a politician and financial gain by the associate. Following an
ICAC investigation, in 2017 former NSW Minister for Minerals MacDonald was found
guilty of ‘wilful misconduct in public office’ by granting a coal exploration licence to his
friend Maitland. The latter obtained a benefit of approximately $6 million from the sale
of shares related to the licence,51 and was convicted of being an accessory. In 2019
the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions and ordered a retrial, on the
basis that the trial judge had not adequately informed the jury of the lack of evidence of
intent by both men.52
• Private conduct which impairs confidence ‒ Margaret Cunneen SC
Already mentioned, this case showed how a public servant used conflict over the scope
of the definition of corrupt conduct to escape consequences for actions outside their
employment, alleged to potentially bring the relevant office into disrepute. In 2014,
Cunneen SC, a senior NSW prosecutor, was accused of wrongdoing by advising the
girlfriend of one of her sons to claim chest pains in order to avoid a breathalyser test
following a car crash. The ICAC’s intent to investigate this as corrupt conduct was
successfully challenged in the NSW Court of Appeal and High Court, on the basis this
was not conduct that ‘could adversely affect, either directly or indirectly, the exercise of
official functions by any public official’ (see earlier). The DPP later assessed there to be
no case for a criminal charge of perverting the course of justice, but the issue generated
enormous controversy, including allegations of oppressive conduct by the ICAC, while
some felt that a serious issue of public sector misconduct was left unresolved.53
49Slipper v Magistrates Court of the ACT and Turner and Commonwealth Director of Public
Prosecutions [2014] ACTSC 85 (9 May 2014).
50E.g., Courier Mail (2015, 2 March), Lying a slippery business, p. 24; Waterford, J. (2015, March 1),
‘Putting in the golden slipper’, Canberra Times, p. A017.
51 https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/former-nsw-labor-minister-ian-macdonald-and-union-friend-
john-maitland-s-convictions-thrown-out-20190225-p51002.html.
52 Maitland v R; Macdonald v R [2019] NSWCCA 32 (25 February 2019).
53 E.g., https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/bradley-cunneen,-icac-and-unintended-20
• Abuse of power, not for direct gain ‒ Nassir Bare
This Victorian case highlighted the discretion available to integrity commissions in
selecting cases for investigation, and the threat this can pose to ensuring integrity and
justice. In 2009 the Office of Police Integrity (OPI) refused to investigate allegations of
a racially charged serious assault by police on a teenager. This was despite the OPI’s
responsibility under its governing legislation to investigate ‘serious misconduct’,54 and
the high risk of more serious corruption unfolding where such abuses of power go
unchecked. A community legal centre sought a review of the decision in the Supreme
Court, arguing that the OPI’s remit of the matter to the Victoria Police violated the
Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. In 2015, the Victorian Court of
Appeal eventually ordered the review, in the form of referral of the complaint for a fresh
decision by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC), which
subsumed the OPI.55 The IBAC elected to investigate and found there was insufficient
evidence of an assault. However, the implication remained that Victorians had no right
to an independent investigation of alleged police misconduct of a serious nature.56
• Under the carpet or through the cracks? ‒ Commonwealth Fraud Control
Finally, one of the most immediate consequences of misaligned definitions and over-
reliance on criminal standards is that of high-risk misconduct simply falling through the
cracks. At Commonwealth level, in a preview of what seems likely if corruption is
restricted only to criminal offences, prioritisation of the tangible concept of ‘fraud’ over
the idea of ‘corruption’ has long seen the latter classed as just part of the former.57
Commonwealth Fraud Control Policy defines ‘fraud’ broadly, to include any conduct
which involves ‘dishonestly obtaining a benefit or causing a loss’,58 but the imputation of
criminal intent and exclusion of wider concepts such as partiality or breach of trust results
in a narrow picture. Moreover, despite the creation of the Australian Federal Police
Fraud & Anti-Corruption Centre in 2014, Commonwealth agencies are not under any
obligation even to report fraud to the AFP – rather they are simply ‘encouraged’ to seek
guidance in serious or complex fraud matters.59 Between July 2014 and April 2017, the
Fraud & Anti-Corruption Centre received only 34 referrals related to corruption for the
consequences/6395050; https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/margaret-cunneens-prayers-
answered-icac-commissioner-megan-latham-resigns-20161123-gsvx9h.html.
54 Police Integrity Act 2008, s.6(2)(a).
55 Bare v IBAC [2015] VSCA 197.
56IBAC (2016), Operation Darby: An investigation of Mr Nassir Bare’s complaint against Victoria
Police, Melbourne, Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission; Melbourne; Police
Accountability Project (2017), Independent Investigation of Complaints against the Police Policy
Briefing Paper, Melbourne, Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre.
57See Peter Roberts 2005, ‘Don’t rock the boat: The Commonwealth National Integrity System
Assessment’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp. 48-53.
58 Commonwealth Fraud Guidance and Australian Government Investigation Standards, Par 14, p.C7.
59 Commonwealth Fraud Guidance, pars.71-72, p.C16.You can also read
